Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen.[4] This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798.[5] The county is part of the Hudson Valley region of the state.
Orange County was officially established on November 1, 1683 when the Province of New York was divided into twelve counties.[8] Each of these was named to honor a member of the British royal family, and Orange County took its name from the Prince of Orange,[9] who subsequently became King William III of England. As originally defined, Orange County included only the southern part of its present-day territory, plus all of present-day Rockland County further south. The northern part of the present-day county, beyond Moodna Creek, was then a part of neighboring Ulster County.
At that date, the only European inhabitants of the area were a handful of Dutch colonists in present-day Rockland County, and the area of modern Orange County was entirely occupied by the native Munsee people. Due to its relatively small population, the original Orange County was not fully independent and was administered by New York County.
The first European settlers in the area of the present-day county arrived in 1685. They were a party of around twenty-five families from Scotland, led by David Toshach, the Laird of Monzievaird, and his brother-in-law Major Patrick McGregor, a former officer of the French Army. They settled in the Hudson Highlands at the place where the Moodna Creek enters the Hudson River, now known as New Windsor. In 1709, a group of German Palatine refugees settled at Newburgh. They were Protestants from a part of Germany along the Rhine that had suffered during the religious wars. Queen Anne's government arranged for passage from England of nearly 3,000 Palatines in ten ships. Many were settled along the Hudson River in work camps on property belonging to Robert Livingston. In 1712, a 16-year-old indentured servant named Sarah Wells[10] from Manhattan led a small party of three Munsee men and three hired carpenters into the undeveloped interior of the county and created the first settlement in the Town of Goshen on the Otter Kill. She was falsely promised by her master Christopher Denne 100 acres bounty for taking on the dangerous mission to make a land claim for him. He never gave her the land. But, she did fall in love and married Irish immigrant William Bull there in 1718 and they had 12 children and built the Bull Stone House. In 1716, the first known Black woman resident was recorded in Orange County. Her name was Mercy[10]: 108 and she was enslaved by Christopher Denne at his settlement on the Otter Kill. Additional immigrants came from Ireland; they were of Scots and English descent who had been settled as planters there.
During the American Revolutionary War the county was divided into Loyalists, Patriots, and those who remained neutral. The local government supported the Revolution, or "The Cause." Some residents posed as Loyalists but were part of a secret spy network set up by Gen. George Washington. Capt. William Bull III[11] of the Town of Wallkill (which was then a part of Ulster County) served in the Continental Army with Gen. Washington in Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment. His cousin was revealed after the war to be part of Washington's spy ring. His brother Moses Bull raised 20 men from the Town of Wallkill to service with his brother. Capt. Bull was promoted twice for valor on the battlefield, once in the Battle of Monmouth where he was part of Lord Stirling's men who famously saved the day after Gen. Lee's retreat. Capt. Bull wintered at Valley Forge with several men from Orange County. Capt. Bull retired from the Army in 1781 and returned to the Town of Wallkill where he built Brick Castle. Hundreds of men from Orange County served in the local militia and many of them fought in the Battle of Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton. However, many residents remained loyal to King George III, include members of Capt. Bull's family. Many in the county were divided within families. Capt. Bull's uncle Thomas Bull was jailed for years in Goshen and then Fishkill for being a Loyalist. Resident Claudius Smith was a Loyalist marauder whose team robbed and terrorized citizens; he was hanged in Goshen in 1779 for allegedly robbing and killing Major Nathaniel Strong; two of his sons were also executed for similar crimes. Capt. Bull's cousin Peter Bull of Hamptonburgh served in the Orange County regiment and was charged with guarding the roads at night from Smith. The Mathews family of Blooming Grove were active Loyalists; Fletcher Mathews was a sympathizer and sometime associate of Smith,[12] and his brother David Mathews was Mayor of New York City during its British occupation for the entirety of the war.
In 1798, after the American Revolutionary War, the boundaries of Orange County changed. Its southern corner was used to create the new Rockland County, and in exchange, an area to the north of the Moodna Creek was added, which had previously been in Ulster County. This caused a reorganization of the local administration, as the original county seat had been fixed at Orangetown in 1703, but this was now in Rockland County. Duties were subsequently shared between Goshen, which had been the center of government for the northern part of Orange County, and Newburgh, which played a similar role in the area transferred from Ulster County. The county court was established in 1801. It was not until 1970 that Goshen was named as the sole county seat.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 839 square miles (2,170 km2), of which 812 square miles (2,100 km2) is land and 27 square miles (70 km2) (3.2%) are water.[14]
Orange County is the only county which borders both the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, and is also the only county in the state to border both New Jersey (south) and Pennsylvania (west).
Orange County is where the Great Valley of the Appalachians finally opens up and ends. The western corner is set off by the Shawangunk Ridge. The area along the Rockland County border (within Harriman and Bear Mountainstate parks) and south of Newburgh is part of the Hudson Highlands. The land in between is the valley of the Wallkill River. In the southern portion of the county the Wallkill valley expands into a wide glacial lake bed known as the Black Dirt Region for its fertility.
The highest point is Schunemunk Mountain, at 1,664 feet (507 m) above sea level. The lowest is sea level along the Hudson.
During the 2000 Census, there were 114,788 households, out of which 39.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.90% were married couples living together, 11.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.40% were non-families. 21.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.35.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 29.00% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 30.00% from 25 to 44, 21.90% from 45 to 64, and 10.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.50 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $52,058, and the median income for a family was $60,355. Males had a median income of $42,363 versus $30,821 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,597. About 7.60% of families and 10.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.80% of those under age 18 and 8.00% of those age 65 or over.
Per the American Community Survey's 2018 estimates, there were 381,951 residents within Orange County.[23] 63.5% of the county was non-Hispanic white, 12.95 Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 2.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.0% from two or more races, and 21.0% Hispanic or Latino of any race. 24.4% of Orange County's residents spoke another language other than English at home.
There were 126,776 households in 2018 and an average of 2.90 persons per household. The owner-occupied housing rate was 68.0% and the median gross rent of the county was $1,223. The median homeowner cost with a mortgage was $2,280 and $909 without a mortgage.
The median income for a household from 2014 to 2018 was $76,716 and the per capita income was $33,472. 11.5% of the county's inhabitants were below the poverty line in 2018.
Originally, like most New York counties, Orange County was governed by a board of supervisors. Its board consisted of the 20 town supervisors, nine city supervisors elected from the nine wards of the City of Newburgh, and four each elected from the wards of the cities of Middletown and Port Jervis. In 1968, the board adopted a county charter and a reapportionment plan that created the county legislature and executive. The first county executive and legislature were elected in November 1969 and took office on January 1, 1970. Today, Orange County is still governed by the same charter; residents elect the county executive and a 21-member county legislature elected from 21 single-member districts. There are also several state constitutional positions that are elected, including a sheriff, county clerk and district attorney. Prior to January 1, 2008, four coroners were also elected; however, on that date, the county switched to a medical examiner system.
The current county officers are:
County Executive: Steven M. Neuhaus (Republican)
County Clerk: Kelly A. Eskew (Republican)
Sheriff: Paul Arteta (Republican)
District Attorney: David M. Hoovler (Republican)
The County Legislature and its previous board of supervisors were long dominated by the Republican Party. However, since the late 20th century, the Democrats have closed the gap. During 2008 and 2009 the legislature was evenly split between 10 Republicans, 10 Democrats, and 1 Independence Party member. In 2009, the legislature had its first Democratic chairman elected when one member of the Republican caucus voted alongside the 10 Democratic members to elect Roxanne Donnery (D-Highlands/Woodbury) to the post. At the November 2009 election, several Democratic incumbents were defeated. As of the convening of the legislature on January 1, 2022, there are 14 Republicans, 6 Democrats, and 1 Independence member.
In recent years, Orange County has emerged as a swing county, mirroring the preferences of the nation as a whole in presidential elections, voting for the winner in every election from 1996 to 2016. The streak ended in 2020, however, as Orange County narrowly voted to re-elect Donald Trump, even as Democratic nominee Joe Biden of Delaware won the election overall. Bill Clinton won Orange County 48% to 40% in 1996. George W. Bush won 50% of the Orange County vote in 2000, and 55% in 2004. Barack Obama carried the county with a 52% vote share four years later and carried the county again in 2012. However, Donald Trump won the county in 2016, thus making it one of 206 counties across the country to vote for Obama twice and then Trump. In 2020, Trump again won Orange County, this time by just 312 votes out of nearly 170,000 votes cast, a margin of about 0.2 percentage points. Despite this, it was only the fourth-closest county in the state and one of five that Trump won by less than 500 votes.
Previously, like most of the Lower Hudson, Orange County had leaned Republican. From 1884 to 1992, a Republican carried Orange County in all but one presidential election. The only time this tradition was broken was in 1964, during DemocratLyndon Johnson's 44-state landslide. County voters have shown a willingness to sometimes elect Democrats, such as U.S. Rep. John Hall. From 2007 on, when Hall represented the 19th district, which covered most of the county, Orange's representation in Congress was exclusively Democratic, as Maurice Hinchey had represented the towns of Crawford, Montgomery, and Newburgh as well as the city of Newburgh, all of which were in what was then the 22nd district, since 1988.
In the 2010 midterms, Hall was defeated by Nan Hayworth. In 2012, after Hinchey's former 22nd district was eliminated in redistricting following his retirement and all of Orange County was included in the current 18th district. Hayworth was defeated by Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton and the first openly gay person to be elected to Congress from New York.[28] Maloney won a rematch against Hayworth in 2014; in 2016 he was again re-elected over Phil Oliva, and in 2018, despite running in the Democratic primary for New York Attorney General, he won re-election again over James O'Donnell. Maloney was re-elected in 2020, defeating the 2018 Republican nominee for US Senate Chele Farley. Due to redistricting, Maloney left the 18th District and the seat was left vacant. The Democrats nominated former Ulster County Executive and incumbent Congressman from the 19th Congressional District Pat Ryan, while the Republicans chose then-Assemblyman Colin Schmitt. While Ryan won the district as a whole, Schmitt won Orange County itself by 9,652 votes, or approximately 7.94% [29]
At the state level, Republicans had held onto both State Senate seats until 2018, when John Bonacic retired after 26 years, the 42nd district was then won by Democrat Jen Metzger, for 1 term. In 2020 it returned to the GOP, via Mike Martucci, who chose not to run for re-election in 2022. The 39th State Senate District was held by Democrat James Skoufis from 2016 through 2022, when statewide redistricting moved Skoufis to the newly drawn 42nd district. Skoufis was re-elected to this new district, consisting of most of the county. Newburgh and Maybrook, meanwhile, remained in the new 39th District, held since 2022 by Republican Robert Rolison.
Democrats have also made significant gains in the county's State Assembly seats. The 98th district, which includes the far western part of the county as well as the Town of Warwick, is represented by Karl Brabenec, and the 101st district, which includes the Towns of Crawford and Montgomery, was until 2016 held by Claudia Tenney, both Republicans. After Tenney left her seat to run for Congress that year, Brian Miller, another Republican, was elected to replace her. He held the seat until 2022 when redistricting moved him elsewhere, and he was replaced by fellow Republican Brian Maher. Colin Schmitt represented the 99th district until 2022 when it was redrawn and he left to run for Congress. The district was won by Chris Eachus, a Democrat. The other two districts are also held by Democrats: Aileen Gunther in the 100th district (Middletown) and Jonathan Jacobson in the 104th district (Newburgh).
Final Destination & Final Destination 2: Parts of plot takes place in Otisville, NY and Greenwood Lake, NY - Shown by patches that police officers wear and television news program that is played.
Sarah Wells,[10] 1712, first female settler of European heritage in the interior of Orange County, at age 16. She and husband William Bull, built a stone house in the (now Town of Goshen) wilderness, and raised 12 children to adulthood. Died in 1796, aged 100 years, 15 days, with 335 descendants. Matriarch of the Bull Family
William H. Seward, U.S. Secretary of State, under Lincoln, a 2-term federal Senator and 12th governor of NY, born and raised Florida, NY.[39][40]
Albert J. Myer, born Newburgh September 20, 1829. Surgeon & US Army general (1854–1869). Known as the father of the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the U.S. Weather Bureau
David Moffat, railroad developer, Washingtonville native
Webb Horton, (1826–1908) Narrowsburgh industrial tanner, had Webb Horton House (aka Morrison Hall) built in Middletown (1902–07). The namesake of Webb Horton (Presbyterian) Church (b. 1918 Middletown) and E. Horton Hospital (1929–2011 in Middletown)
Willie "The Lion" Smith, jazz "stride" pianist, born Goshen 1897. A handwritten letter sent by Smith, thanking the Goshen Public Library resides amongst their permanent historical collection.
Horace Pippin, Black artist and painter, raised and educated (in segregated schools) in Goshen
Stefanie Dolson, WNBA player and 2021 Olympic 3x3 Gold medalist, Minisink High graduate (descendant of 18th century, OC settler and pelt trader James Dolson)
Nick Abruzzese, 2022 US Olympic Hockey Team, Harvard graduate, NHL Toronto Maple Leafs 2019 draftee, Slate Hill resident
Derek Jeter, New York Yankees team 'captain' and HoFer, purchased Tiedemann Castle (b. 1915) in Warwick, where his parents resided year round, sold via auction in December 2022[45][46]
^"Dating back to its formation under a colonial law of 1683, Orange is one of the oldest counties in the state. It was reëstablished in 1788, and had its boundaries finally determined April 3, 1801."[50]
^McWhorter, Emma (1974). The History and Genealogy of the William Bull and Sarah Wells Family of Orange County, New York. Goshen Library: T. E. Henderson.
^Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, 1777-1795, 1801-1804. 1900, page 634
Dray, Phillip. A Lynching At Port Jervis: Race and Reckoning In the Gilded Age. NY. March 2023.
Further reading
Ruttenber, Edward Manning (1881). History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck. LCCN16020351.
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